


But I Can’t Trace Time

by Sandmans_Raven



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:01:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29676708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandmans_Raven/pseuds/Sandmans_Raven
Summary: After a battle with the time-traveling mutant-hunter known as Ahab, Rogue is sent into the future. To get back, she must rely on old friends and put a stop to Ahab's plans.
Relationships: Kitty Pryde/Rachel Summers, Remy LeBeau/Rogue
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	But I Can’t Trace Time

**Author's Note:**

> Teen Titans was one of my favorite series growing up and my favorite episode by far was "How Long is Forever?", where Starfire is sent to the future and sees the future versions of her teammates. It was interesting not only seeing their future versions (like Nightwing, another favorite of mine) but also seeing how grim it was. Aside from X-Men, it was one of the first times seeing a darker future like that in superhero media. This is my take on this in the X-Men Universe.
> 
> Continuity from previous comics is light. This was written as a part of Rogue/Gambit Week 2021, the main prompt used being "Time Travel" but also took some inspiration for the "Gambit teaching Rogue to pick locks" prompt.
> 
> Also, TW for some violence and light body horror.

SSSSSKRACK

A white bolt of energy lashed out from the machine and hit the concrete right next to Rogue. The thing was becoming more unstable with every passing moment, causing the ground around her and Gambit to shiver and crack. The rest of the team had been separated in the fight with the time-traveling cyborg known as Ahab and his Hounds, leaving only Rogue and her partner, Gambit, to deal with his time-traveling device.

They had tracked him down to the Metropolitan Power District, where he was using the reactors to create a portal to go back to his time. Before he could escape, however, a stray beam from Cyclops’s visor had hit the device, causing a reaction.

“This thing’s gonna blow and take out half the city,” Rogue said.

“We need to help evacuate everyone, then,” Remy said. “Maybe we can get Bishop to absorb--”

“No,” Rogue said. “There’s no time. We need to chuck it somewhere it can’t cause any damage.”

Remy looked to the woman, knowing that there was only one person in the immediate vicinity capable of doing that.

“You don’ have to save the day, chere,” Remy said.

Rogue placed a gloved hand on his cheek. “You know Ah do. That’s our job, sugah.”

“Rogue...” he said, the red pupils of his eyes pleading with her.

“Ah’ll be back,” she said. “Ah promise.”

There was no goodbye kiss. For one, it wasn’t possible with the woman’s powers and secondly, neither really thought it was goodbye. This was the kind of thing they did on a regular basis and while they didn’t always win, they did always have each other at the end of the day.

“Now, do me a favor,” she said. “See if you can open up the ceiling for me.”

Rogue flew up to the machine. It was a metal cube made up of tubes and gears, the functions of which she could only guess. With a deep breath, she grabbed onto a couple metal bars that looked sturdy and immediately felt the electricity begin to run through her entire system. Due to her powers, it wasn’t painful. Rather it felt like every cell in her body was vibrating at the same frequency as the machine. She lifted it with a grunt and hoisted it onto her shoulders.

Above her Remy, had used his kinetic powers to tap into the structure of the ceiling of the power plant. It glowed a bright pink, growing brighter and brighter until the pink was white. And then it exploded. Bits of metal and concrete rained down, pelting the time machine as Rogue stood underneath it, untouched by the debris.

Jumping back down to the floor, Remy got one more glance at Rogue. She smiled at him and then rose from the ground, lifting the machine ahead of her as the random jolts of energy continued. She flew it out of the building, soaring into the sky. She hazarded a glance down and saw her teammates fighting below, moving the fight away from the reactors as not to cause more collateral damage than was necessary. They quickly faded into the landscape as the power plant melted in with the city, which became just another patch in the quilt of the area of New York City.

“Okay,” she said to herself as she rose higher and higher. The energy lashes became more frequent and she was beginning to lose sensation in her arms from the energy that coursed from the metal. “Just a little further...”

By now she could see the curvature of the earth. The air grew cold and her lungs grew weary trying to pump what little there was up there in and out. She was no time-machine technician, but even she could see that it was about to explode.

“Here goes nothin’,” she said. With one burst of strength, she dropped the machine down and then swung it back up into the sky, using the momentum to rocket it as far away as she could. It shot up into the stratosphere and looked as if it might make it a long ways before it exploded.

But Rogue’s timing was off. The machine burst into a ball of white and yellow light.

KA-KRAAAOOOW

“Oh damn,” she said and immediately banked downwards, flying for the city below her. She exerted herself, pushing the limits of her flight. Even with Carol Danvers’s or Simon Williams’s powers, she was never able to quite match their speeds. 

But even they were not faster than light. Not knowing what would happen once the explosion eventually caught up to her, Rogue offered a quick prayer to whomever would listen. She asked that she would make it out of this and if she didn’t, that those she loved would move on quickly. She never did like people making a fuss over her. Then she closed her eyes.

The light overtook her in seconds. First she felt warmth, then some pain, then nothing. And all was black.

#

Rogue awoke to the sounds of water lapping against concrete. The sky that hung over her was a deep violet and full of clouds. But the clouds were not flying in herds as clouds tend to do, rather they passed each other in uniform lines, going east and west. However, as she regained focus, the clouds became large aircrafts, something like zeppelins made of chrome and neon.

As she sat up, Rogue felt a sharp pain in her neck and back. With her near-invulnerability, the ability to wake up with a sore back or a crick in the neck from sleeping in an uncomfortable position never ceased to frustrate her. She rubbed it, using her thumb to massage around the nape of her neck as she stood up.

It appeared she landed back on the broken-up concrete beach of the Hudson River. New York City stood sprawled out behind her but it was not the city she had left. Skyscrapers jutted into the sky, dwarfing even One World Trade Center and the Central Park Tower.

To most, the idea of new buildings cropping up in the manner of hours would cause an extreme kind of confusion that would border on hysteria. To Rogue, a seasoned member of the X-Men, it was obvious.

“Dammit,” she said. “I’m in the future.”

Checking her belt, she found that her communicator was missing, so she would be unable to contact anyone if anyone was even around. With a sigh, she took flight, soaring up into the sky to get a better vantage as she headed back into the city. She surveyed the streets as well as the holographic billboards that popped up above the bustling sidewalks. People lazily made their way up and down what was now named Pym Boulevard. The clothing they wore was a combination of styles that had been ‘brought’ back like mesh and leather, and some a kind of silk fabric that she didn’t recognize. But there didn’t appear to be any overlords or soldiers policing them, robot or otherwise.

As she flew down to get a closer look, one of the holographic ads popped up in her face. It displayed the bust of a woman in a suit, her silver, curly hair blowing in the breeze. She looked off into the distance as a flag flew behind her.

“Re-elect President Kate Pryde,” an over-enthusiastic voice said. “In her last term alone, she helped bolster the job-market, decreased emissions that would harm the environment, and established relations with the country of Latveria.”

With that, she determined that she was not in a future where mutants were actively being hunted and breathed a little easier. The thought gave her hope that the X-Men might still be around. She took off for the skies again, drawing gasps and stares from the people around her.

“Some things never change,” she chuckled to herself.

Although it wasn’t as direct of a path, Rogue took some time to fly through the winding streets of New York, taking in everything. She passed through Times Square, where the buildings were monumental advertisements that displayed everything from the latest Coca-Cola flavor to the new movie that the children of past celebrities were now in. She took in the smells of spices and meats in ChinaTown, which had grown into more of a city in itself. And she heard the sounds of wildlife in Central Park, which was flourishing, its birds singing in trees that grew to overtake skyscrapers.

Having seen enough, Rogue flew back up over the city and went north. There were many times in the past when she had needed to fly back to the X-Mansion on her own, but it wasn’t until now that she realized how much she had relied on physical landmarks in addition to her sense of direction. The hog farm she used to fly over, for example, was now a factory of some kind. The little diner she would stop at on occasion had been flattened and a gated community was erected.

Rogue did find it eventually, though. Or she found the space where it once was. At first she missed it, thinking that the large patch of grassland surrounded by trees was merely real-estate waiting to be developed, but then she saw something that caught her eye. She flew down to the ground to get a closer look and saw that she was in fact on what was once the The Xavier School for Mutants.

The mansion was gone. In its place, stood a plaque and a bronze statue of Professor Xavier. He sat in an older version of his wheelchair, wearing a turtleneck underneath his jacket and holding a strand of DNA in the palm of his hand.

The plaque read:

In Memory of Charles Xavier  
A Good Man  
An Even Better Teacher

As she read it, she heard the grass rustle behind her. She spun around, fists up, to find a stocky figure in a long coat holding a shovel. The hood was pulled up, obfuscating whoever it was.

“I thought I told you to get outta here,” the figure growled. “Now, or I’ll give you something to…”

As the man raised his arm to shoo her away with the shovel, she saw who it was beneath the hood. A pair of yellow eyes stared back at her behind a pair of glasses. She took another look at his hand and saw it was covered in blue fur.

“Hank?” she said. “Is that you?”

“Who...who are you?” Hank said. “Is this some kind of trick? Morph, is that you? This is macabre, even for you.”

“No, it’s me,” she said. “Rogue.”

“It can’t be,” he said. “You…” Then his hand fell and his posture straightened. “You were carrying a malfunctioning time machine into the sky. It is you, isn’t it?”

Rogue nodded, smiling. It had only been hours since she had seen Beast last, but for him, it had been half of a lifetime. And looking into his tired eyes, rimmed with fur that was beginning to turn white, she could feel that.

He began to walk away, grunting something that she took to mean that he wanted her to follow him.

Beast led her through a path in the tall grass that now grew over the spot where the mansion once stood. It was all gone, without even the hint of one of the original bricks anywhere. He stopped midway through and reached down where a grey rock sat. He grasped the rock and began to pick it up, but she saw it was actually attached to a bar that led into the ground.

Something underneath the ground whirred and a square of light appeared in the grass. The square tiled up, revealing a metal hatch that emitted a light blue glow.

Turning around, he motioned for her. “Well, step on in. We have a lot to discuss.”

#

Beneath the ground, Rogue felt more at home than anywhere she had been so far. The hatch led to a tunnel that opened up into what was once the hangar for the team’s Blackbird. The jet was no longer there, instead replaced by computers, televisions, and even living arrangements like cots and a kitchen. Plastic partitions stood around the areas to give the illusion of the ‘rooms’ but to Rogue, they felt more like cubicles.

“Tea?” Beast asked, heading for the kitchen. He pulled the coat from his torso and hung it on a coat rack next to the entrance. His once stout body had become sinewy and crooked while his fur was now more grey than blue.

“Please,” she said. “And Advil if they still make it now.”

Beast nodded and grabbed mugs and a kettle from a cabinet and then pulled a pill bottle from a drawer. He filled the kettle from the tap and pressed a button on the kettles side. In less than a second, the kettle dinged and Beast poured the water into the mugs.

Placing a tea bag in the mug, he reached out with it and a pair of yellow pills across the counter. “Here you ar--mmph.”

He winced in pain, reaching for his back as his grip faltered. He held onto the mug, but much of the tea sloshed out and onto the counter with the pills.

“Hank!” Rogue said and rushed over to him.

“I’m alright,” he said. “Unfortunately, in my old age, my mutation has become more unstable, making it so my body changes with much effort.” He groaned and rolled his right shoulder. “That felt like a shift in my latissimus.”

“Go sit,” Rogue said. “Ah’ll clean this up.”

“It’s fine.” He pulled the mug back and placed the other on the counter before her. “This one will be mine. Now, sit with me. I’m sure you have questions.”

“You could say that,” she replied.

They walked to a couch before one of the walls of televisions. The couch was covered in newspapers, plastic plates, and books, which Beast cleared onto the floor with the swipe of his hand.

“What is the last thing you remember?” he asked. He eased himself down onto the couch, holding his lower back.

“The machine exploded sooner than Ah thought it would,” she said. “And Ah tried to high-tail it back to Earth, but Ah wasn’t fast enough. A light over took me and then Ah woke up by the Hudson.”

Beast nodded and sipped his tea.

“What happened with Ahab?”

The man looked puzzled for a moment before chuckling. “Oh yes, that’s right. It was Ahab we were fighting that day. We defeated him. And then again a few years later. And again at some point, I’m sure.”

“What happened to the mansion?”

“Ah. That was Apocalypse’s work. We defeated him, but...” Beast said. He looked down to the floor, his shoulders sinking. “The professor was killed.”

Rogue shook her head. “That’s awful. And the school?”

“Nobody had the heart to rebuild it. Scott went into a deep depression and Emma went on to start a school of her own in California. The X-Men themselves didn’t disband, per se, but many fractured off on their own. I stayed behind to watch over what was left of the place and live my own version of Antony the Great.”

“Where exactly did everyone else go?” Rogue said.

“Everyone?” he asked. “Or Gambit?”

Rogue shrugged and then nodded.

“I figured you would ask.” He reached into his jacket and pulled something out, throwing it onto her lap.

She picked it up, feeling the smooth, rounded sides. “My communicator? You kept it?”

“That’s mine,” he said. “Gambit has yours. He found it after you disappeared and kept it just in case, but you should be able to get a signal from it to find him.”

“Thank you,” Rogue said. “Do you have any leads so Ah won’t have to fly all around the world to find him?”

Beast pulled a remote from his pocket and pointed it to one of the walls of monitors. Windows popped up, showing security footage. Each window showed a different building. One by one, they all went blank and disappeared, save for one window that displayed a vault in the bowels of a building. Something hit the camera, but it merely flickered for a moment before showing a tall man in a trench coat enter the vault. When he exited, he was carrying a single bag. He looked up to the camera, his face obscured underneath his hood, and then threw a dart into the lens.

“These are jewelry shops that were hit within the same city block,” he said. “On the same night.”

Rogue smiled. “He’s gotten sloppy.”

“I think having the love of your life disappear in a flash would have that effect on someone,” Beast replied.

Rogue clipped the communicator back onto her belt. “Thanks. Well, Ah should probably get goin’.”

“Not so fast,” he said, standing up. “I’m coming with you.”

“But your condition…”

Beast dismissed it with the wave of his hand. “I won’t let my ailments keep me from my duties as a friend. A lady in a strange land needs an escort. Just give me two minutes.”

He walked past the computer and behind a cubicle that appeared to serve as his bedroom.

“Rogue,” he said. “I can imagine you’re anxious to pursue this lead to find your lost love and I want to help you in any way I can. But in the interest of sending you back to where you need to go, I think there is something that you should consider: Ahab is not from this future, let alone this timeline.”

He stepped out from behind the partition. He now wore a grey suit, the shoulders and waist slightly hugging his frame. The fur was also now gone, displaying an aging man with a receding hairline and tired eyes.

“Why would the machine send you here?”

#

Rain poured down from the violet sky when Rogue and Beast left. He lent her a coat but lamented the fact that he could not give her a ride as the Blackbird was still out of commission, so he called a cab.

When one pulled up, Beast noticed a confused expression on the woman’s face. “Everything okay?”

She leaned over to him and whispered, “Ah didn’t think cabs would still be a thing in the future, let alone driven by people.”

Beast chuckled as he opened the door for her. “Yes, it seems that humans don’t trust robots or AIs, even though we are more prone to make mistakes. The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Rogue nodded in understanding. She, too, wasn’t sure if she would trust robots at this point, given all of her experiences with Sentinels.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.” The phrase played on loop in Rogue’s head as they drove back into the country. She wondered how much Gambit had changed. He was still hitting jewelry stores, so his old personality was still there in some fashion, but she couldn’t imagine what kind of toll it would take on her had she lost him.

As the cab brought them around the block in Hell’s Kitchen, the communicator on Rogue’s belt began to flash. She held it up, feeling her lungs freeze in anticipation.

“You can drop us off here, sir,” Beast said.

The driver mumbled something and then pulled to the side. They exited, Beast paying the man, and found themselves back in the thicket of the city. The streets had been re-paved over the years and many of the buildings looked to have been replaced, their rustic charm supplanted with the sterile efficiency of black-paneled buildings that rose even higher into the sky. Still, there were a few of the old brownstones leftover and a couple of them even appeared to be inhabited still.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Rogue walked with the communicator in hand, watching it flash faster and faster, turning into a strobe before becoming a solid light. They stopped at the stoop of a condemned residential building.

“Looks like this is it,” she said with a nod. She tried the doorknob, but was unsurprised to find it locked. Turning to Beast, she said, “Do you have a bobby pin or anything like that by chance?”

Beast thought for a moment and then pulled a pair of wire-rimmed bifocals from his pocket. He snapped off one of the temples and held it to her. “Will that work?”

“Yes,” Rogue said. She took it and gently slid it into the door’s lock. “Somethin’ Ah picked up from Remy a couple years ago.”

“Oh boy,” Beast said. He looked out into the street, using his frame to hide Rogue as she worked on the lock. Most walked by, but one old woman scowled at him. He just smiled and waved, muttering to Rogue, “You know breaking and entering is still illegal in the future, right?”

The door clicked and she swung it open. “Well, we better get inside before anyone calls the cops, then.”

The inside was covered in dust and smelled of mold and wet concrete. It was a house at one point before being converted into a small apartment complex—one apartment per floor judging by the old mail slots that were still in the entrance. Otherwise, the place was empty, the doors gone and covered with sheets of plastic, the kitchen stripped of all cabinetry, and even the bathroom on the first floor missing a toilet.

After exploring the first floor, they made their way up to the second, the boards of the staircase creaking with every step. Rogue considered trying to move with a little more stealth, but they weren’t trying to hide and if Gambit was here, he most likely already knew it.

The second floor was much like the first, although there was a couch in the main room, forgotten from the previous tenants. As they made their way to the third, however, they were met with their first door. It was made of a thick metal with a small peephole in the middle. There didn’t appear to be a handle anywhere.

Rogue glanced behind her to Beast, who just shrugged. Without another option, she knocked, the metal reverberating on its hinges three times. They waited but it never opened and they never heard the stir of whomever might be on the other side.

“Maybe he’s not home,” Beast said.

“Ah could always rip the door open,” Rogue replied.

“You could try,” a voice said. It didn’t come from the door, rather it seemed to come from the house itself. “But you won’ succeed.”

Rogue’s ear perked up then, recognizing the voice.

“That’s quite the toy you got there,” he said. “It don’ belong t’you, though. How ‘bout you leave it an’ I’ll make sure it gets back to its rightful owner.”

“I gave it to her, Gambit,” Beast said. “We really need to talk.”

From behind the door, they could hear metal slide against metal, followed by the beeping of a code being entered. Then something slid and clicked in place and the door slowly opened. Before them stood a man. He hadn’t changed all that much in the last 40 years, save for a beard and more grey hairs than brown. He was also now missing his left arm at his elbow, but didn’t use a prosthesis.

“Hank,” he said. “What’re you do—”

His eyes flared red as he finally recognized the face beneath the hood in front of him. He dropped his staff to the ground.

“Rogue?”

When she saw Hank, she could tell how tired he was, but when she saw Remy, she felt the weariness and sadness that he’d been struggling with throughout the years. Her eyes filled with tears and began to stream down her cheeks as she rushed over to him.

The man took her in his arms and held her tight before pushing her back and looking at her.

“Merde,” he said. “It really is you, chere. Where...how…”

“Perhaps we can sit down and talk about all of this,” Beast said.

He nodded. “Suivez-moi.”

#

The top floor of the building was unlike the rest. It was filled to the brim with furniture and paintings, some of which Gambit had stolen and some, he explained, he had painted himself. There was hardly room for them to walk around the various statues, televisions, cases of jewelry, and gadgets he had accumulated through the years.

Gambit cleared a space on an old loveseat and a couple chairs and they sat down while he scrounged around his place for a champagne to celebrate. Rogue told him what happened to her and he briefly explained how he’d left the X-Men not long after her disappearance. He had joined back up with the Thieves Guild but eventually left that as well, coming back to New York in hopes of finding a way to bring her back.

“You don’ get it,” Gambit explained, pouring a chardonnay he found into some glasses. “I waited so long for you. Even when I accepted you were dead, I never accepted that you were gone. I mean, we’re X-Men: we die, we come back. That’s the way o’ the world for people like us. But you never came back. ‘Til now.”

He had a smile on his face like a child who had gotten just what they wanted for Christmas. It was then that Rogue realized that the things in the apartment were just that. The man she loved had abandoned all people in general, instead diving into what he knew, replacing human interaction with objects.

“You look just as I remember you,” he said. Then he laughed. “Seein’ us ol’ farts must be bizarre, no?”

Rogue nodded and took a sip of her drink. She hated seeing him like this. She hated that he had given up his life like this. But she didn’t have the words to convey any of it.

“So,” Beast said. He had sat quietly throughout the entire conversation, knowing he shouldn’t be there for it. “As you can see, we have a situation. We need to find a way to send our old friend back to her appropriate time.”

“D’accord,” Gambit said. “Got any leads yet?”

“Only that this year was Ahab’s next stop, but we don’t really know why,” Rogue said.

“Why the hell were we fightin’ him on that day t’begin wit’?” Gambit asked. He began to chew on his thumbnail.

Rogue thought for a moment. “We didn’t really know at the time. He was tryin’ to escape in that machine when we stopped him. Cyke blasted it and then Ahab sicked his Hounds on us. Ah figured y’all would’a beaten his story outta him after you took him down.”

“We did,” Beast said. “But I’m just having a hard time remembering…”

“After you left and the machine exploded, I waited for you to come back,” Gambit said. “When you didn’, I went back out to see how I could help the rest of the team. We were holdin’ off Ahab an’ his hounds okay…”

“The Hounds!” Beast said. “That was it. He was trying to recruit more of them but when we put a stop to it, he didn’t leave. As it turned out, he wanted to trap Rachel.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Remy said. “He’d said somethin’ ‘bout needin’ her ‘essence’. Like he didn’t really need her anymore since he knew he couldn’ control her.”

“So, he’s after her,” Rogue said. “Where is Rachel in this timeline?”

“She’s married,” Beast said, “to the most powerful woman in the country.”

#

They boarded a train for D.C. an hour later. The train was, as Beast explained it, a bullet train that would get them to their destination in half the time it used to take. The conductor was an A.I. but one that the general public seemed more comfortable with. Rogue didn’t complain, although the train’s initial acceleration at departure turned her stomach at first.

It was nearing three in the morning when they left, so the three of them had their car to themselves. The cart’s decor was classic and rustic, although the train itself was anything but. The flooring was hardwood, varnished red to give the appearance of cherrywood. The seats were set up in sets of two, leather, with golden stitching at the seams. They were on swivels so they could face those across from them or towards the windows, the tint of which could be adjusted from clear to sepia to blacked-out.

“How are we going to meet with her?” Rogue asked as she felt herself adjust to the high speed. “It’s not like we can just stroll into the White House in the middle of the night and say, ‘We’d like to see the President, please.’”

“No,” Beast said. “But this is a president who knows us.”

“I’ll get us in,” Gambit said. “I may be old but I haven’ lost my touch yet.”

With a chuckle, Beast stood. “I think that settles it. I need to get some rest. I’m afraid I’m just not suited for these late-night excursions as I once was.”

“Remy,” Rogue said. “Walk with me?”

The man didn’t need to be told twice. He just offered his arm and led her to the back of the car. Due to the high speed of the train, they weren’t able to actually step outside, so they took a seat next to one of the windows and looked out.

“Ah’m sorry,” she said.

“For what, chere?”

“Ah didn’t come back.”

Gambit chuckled. “Sure you did. You’re here, ain’t ya?”

Rogue nodded and rested her hand on Gambit’s shoulder.

“Well?” she said.

“Well what?”

“Well, did you move on or what? Surely someone like you wouldn’t let the disappearance of little ol’ me take you outta the datin’ game.”

Gambit frowned, his mouth disappearing beneath his beard. “I sure tried. Had a good thing goin’ for a while, but you know me: I get antsy. Needed to travel. She wanted to settle an’ I jus’ couldn’t.”

Rogue reached out and placed a gloved hand on the man’s cheek.

“But maybe I was jus’ waitin’ on you,” he said.

“Ah’m so sorry,” she said, although she wasn’t sure if she was sorry that she was so late in coming back or sorry that he couldn’t move on. “You won’t be alone again if we can set things right.”

Gambit smiled. His eyes were weary, the red irises not burning as bright as they once did. “Don’ make any promises you can’ keep, petite.”

They didn’t say anything else, only sat in silence until sleep came over Rogue, the weight of the day finally pulling her into unconsciousness. The rest was short-lived, however, as she felt herself being prodded awake in what felt like the blink of an eye.

“Hey, petite,” Gambit whispered. “Wakey, wakey. Time to bring home the bakey.”

As she rubbed her eyes awake, she realized the train was no longer moving and the lights had gone up. Beast sat before them, adjusting his tie as he yawned.

“Well,” he said, “let’s go break into the White House.”

#

Kate Pryde grimaced as she sipped her coffee, amazed that out of all of the assistants and advisors she had at her disposal, there was not one that could make a pot without burning it. She didn’t complain, though. She never did. To her, burnt coffee kept her awake in the sprouting morning like this. It was the little bit of imperfection that reminded her that no matter how advanced the world became, it would never be perfect.

She walked at a brisk pace down the corridors of the White House, making her way to the Oval Office. A balding man in a pinstripe suit followed her, reading off of a tablet. A pair of Secret Service agents led them while two others brought up the rear.

“Madame President,” he said. “Your car just arrived. Once you are finished with the revisions for the Latveria papers, it will be ready to take you to your plane.”

“We better not keep them waiting, Daniel,” she said. “I just have a couple more signatures and—”

As the agents opened the doors to the office, one of them immediately shouted for her to get down and they drew their pistols.

“What the hell is going on?” she demanded. 

One of the agents covered her with his body, but she could peak through his arms and saw someone was sitting on her desk in the office. He was flanked by a man covered in blue fur and a woman that looked like someone she hadn’t seen in a very long time.

“Hey there, Kitty,” Rogue said.

“Rogue?” Kate replied.

“Get down on the ground!” one of the agents said. The four of them had grown into eight and they were surrounding the ex-X-Men.

“It’s alright,” Kate said. “Stand down, or whatever. These are friends.”

“Madame President…” Daniel began.

“Stand down!”

After a moment’s hesitation, the agents slowly lowered their guns but did not holster them. Kate phased through them, Daniel pushing through to follow.

“What the hell is this about?” she said. “Why...how did you break in?” She pointed to Rogue. “How are you…”

“Yes, Ah’m alive. Just chock it up to time-travel shenanigans,” Rogue said, waving her hands about. “We don’t have time for all that. Where’s Rachel?”

“Rachel?” she said, staring at her. Then she shook her head, her eyes re-adjusting as she brought herself back into the present. “Umm, she’s waiting on Air Force One. I’m actually meeting her there soon so we can fly out to Chicago.”

The other three looked to one another. Beast said, “She’s alone?”

“Well, she has protection,” Kate said. Blinking, she stiffened and looked to Beast. “Is she in trouble?”

“Maybe not,” Beast said. “But we have reason to believe…”

“Ahab’s comin’ for her,” Gambit said. He smirked to Daniel, who was staring daggers at him for the way he was seated.

“Ahab?” Kate said. “Why now? After all these years?”

“For him, it’s only been a few hours,” Rogue said. “We know he planned to strike here next. It sounds like Ahab got tired of gettin’ beat by the X-Men and decided to go after Rachel when the X-Men weren’t really a thing.”

All of the information swirled in Kate’s head, fighting for her focus. But only one thing caught it. Rachel. Even if these people in front of her were crazy or wrong, it wasn’t worth risking her wife to not trust them. “Okay. I’m coming with you, though.”

“Madame President…” the advisor began to say.

“I can take care of myself, Daniel,” she replied. “Now, get a helicopter ready and send word to the Secret Service escorting her.”

#

The helicopter was waiting for them outside as they left the front door. Its propellers were in a full spin, kicking up dust in their faces as they boarded it. Four Secret Service agents and Daniel accompanied them, taking the seats by the door and directly next to the president. Daniel continued to eye Gambit, who merely smirked back.

“So, you’re alive,” Kate said, once they were in the air. “How do you like the future?”

“Not as Mad Max-y as Ah thought it would be,” Rogue said. “Especially since Ah’m sittin’ across from the first female president.”

Kate laughed at this, the first hearty laugh she’d had in days. “Oh, I’m not the first.”

Rogue shrugged. “Maybe that’s even better.”

“Well, don’t be too proud,” Kate said. “My numbers for re-election aren’t great.”

Rogue looked out the window. Seeing the capitol’s skyline was something to behold. Lights glittered along the horizon from the city, creating enough light pollution that the sky itself was mostly a black and purple expanse of nothing. To Rogue, it was like the sky had become the land and vice-versa.

“So,” Rogue said. “You and Rachel. When did that finally happen?”

“‘Finally?’” Kate said.

“Oh, please,” Rogue replied. “It seemed like everyone knew but the two of you.”

Kate blushed at that. “What can I say? I guess we’re slow learners.”

As Kate looked off into the distance, her smile fading into yearning, Rogue saw the woman’s love for her wife. It was enough that she looked away from Kate and to Gambit next to her, who was fighting to keep his eyes open. As soon as he realized Rogue was looking at him, he sat up and smiled.

The intercom beeped on and the pilot’s voice came over a speaker. “We’re making our descent over...oh my God.”

At once, everyone looked out of their windows. Beast and Daniel in unison said, “Dear God.”

Kate, Gambit, and Rogue leaned over to their side of the helicopter and immediately saw what had elicited such reactions: fire. The airport they were headed for burned in bright orange spots, smoke rising from it to the sky.

“Madame President,” the agent next to Kate said. “We’re going to have to turn around.” He raised a finger in the air and spun it in a circle, signalling to his team to tell the pilot.

“No,” Kate said. “We need to land. My wife is down there.”

“I’m sorry, Madame President,” Daniel said. “This is for your own safety. We are dispatching a team immediately to—”

“Rogue,” Kate said. “Do you think you can fly us the rest of the way?”

She looked around at her team. “Ah can try.”

“Great,” Kate said. She lunged to the woman, grabbing her around the shoulders. “Everybody grab onto Rogue!”

Beast and Gambit did as they were told, Beast holding onto her right arm as Gambit held her left. As Daniel and the agent reached for them, Kate activated her powers. Rogue felt a vibration throughout her body, as if each one of her cells was shivering and they sank into the helicopter as it rose up into the sky.

Having cleared the aircraft, Rogue used her powers to gently land on the tarmac. They landed with ease into a fog of smoke that smelled of burned rubber.

“This way,” Kate said, taking off toward a small hanger 50 feet away. 

As they approached, the picture became clearer and clearer. Bodies were strewn about the tarmac, bullet shells littering ground. The hangar was open, but the jets inside were all ablaze.

“That’s our plane there,” Kate said in a hushed tone. She pointed to a blackened tube with wings that was still burning from the inside out. Its windows had all burst from the heat of an explosion and the metal was beginning to warp.

Rogue left her friends and flew to it. Even for her, the fire was hot, but she got as close as she could. Inside, a pair of blackened figures sat in the pilots’ seats. She tried to get a good look at the back of the jet, but the fire was burning too hot.

“Do you see anything?” Kate called, breathless, from the ground.

“Ah...Ah can’t tell,” Rogue said. 

She turned back to her friends, who were now in the hangar with her. Behind them were more figures. At first, she thought Daniel and the Secret Service had caught up to them, but when Rogue saw that the helicopter was still coming back around, she realized who the figures were.

“Hounds!” she shouted and flew towards them. 

All three of the mutants turned just as the Hounds attacked. There were six altogether, ranging from a large man that looked to be 100% muscle to a petite woman with no hair that floated in the air, cross-legged. They were all dressed in the spiked, leather suits and bore the same markings on their faces.

Gambit went for the big man, throwing a row of cards at him before extending his bo staff with his one arm. The Hound seemed unaffected by the initial assault, simply batting away the card, but the thief didn’t relent. Gambit spun and kicked around his opponent, landing blow after blow.

Beast reached into his satchel and drew out a series of contraptions and gadgets. The first was a disc-like object with a glowing blue center. He threw it at a cat-like Hound that lunged at him from above. The disc stuck to her shoulder and then grew four arms that held onto her before emitting an electrical pulse. The Hound was down in moments.

Although the hovering Hound seemed to possess telekinesis, she did not possess telepathy. Kate was grateful for that as she went for her. The Hound picked up debris that had fallen and threw it at her with her powers, but Kate had phased, letting it all pepper the ground around her. The Hound let Kate get too close and was soon on the receiving end of an upper-cut from the president.

Rogue dove into the fray to help with the rest. Of the two remaining, one wielded long claws and needle-like teeth while the other just looked like a normal person. Rogue went for the normal-looking one first before he opened his mouth and let out a screech. The screech warped the air around Rogue, causing her eardrums to feel like they had exploded and driving her back into the burning plane. Picking herself back up, the clawed Hound was already pouncing on her. Before the Hound could strike, though, she kicked him back onto the ground. 

She flew back to the clawed Hound as he crawled back onto his haunches and grabbed him around the wrists. The Hound snarled, his face just inches from her. She could smell the rot in his breath but when she looked into his eyes, there was pain behind them. In her hesitation, the Hound wriggled free from her grasp and slashed at her, grazing her stomach as she pulled back.

White hot pain stung her abdomen and she doubled over. The Hounds saw this and advanced on her. The clawed one lunged again. She reached out, feeling the pain in her stomach flare up as she grabbed the Hound. This time, she didn’t hesitate and used his momentum to fling him into the other Hound.

Just then, they turned to see a bright ball of white light floating before them, Ahab standing before it. He was more cyborg than before, the only part of him that was recognizably human being the left half of his face. He carried a harpoon made of light in his hand and raised it to the sky.

“To me, my Hounds,” he said.

The Hounds all stopped at once and fell back to their master. One-by-one, they seemed to lose their vigor, slouching into a line formation and went through the portal behind him. With one last look, Ahab followed behind them. 

Rogue gave chase, but as she made it to the portal, she realized she was alone. When she turned back, she saw Kate and Gambit kneeling over Beast on the other side of the hangar. He grimaced in pain as his body morphed. The strain of the fight had started a new reaction in his system, his bones and muscles shifting underneath his blue fur. As she began to fly back to them, the man waved her away with a big, blue paw.

“Go,” he called out. “Before the portal closes. None of this matters if you stop him and get back to your own time.”

Both Kate and Gambit looked to her and nodded. Although both wanted to accompany Rogue into this final battle, neither could. So, Rogue sped off from them, feeling their strength with her. Bidding her friends one final goodbye, she flew straight into the ball of light just as it closed.

For the second time, Rogue experienced the white, warm light as it overtook her. The first time, she lost consciousness before she could experience the feeling of traveling in it. She wasn’t sure what she expected; maybe a long tunnel like in Dr. Who or Sliders, or the stars becoming lines of light like in Star Wars. But what she actually experienced was different. It was as if the world around her was stripped away, leaving only white light. She floated in it for a few moments and then was spat out onto a metal floor.

She was now in a room that she had heard of but never experienced until now: The Tomb, Ahab’s hideaway located outside of the timestream where he conducted his experiments and watched the timeline for his Sentinel overlords. It was everything Rogue imagined it to be when hearing stories from Rachel or Scott: a menagerie of every science-fiction laboratory gizmo and gadget she had ever seen. 

The walls were metal, lights flashing in dazzling colors like christmas lights. Small computer towers sat around the room, displaying images of people all throughout time, most of which were of the X-Men. There was the smell of chemicals in the room, which hardly concealed the lingering aroma of blood and sweat from Ahab’s eternity of experiments.

Rogue stood, her neck feeling like a rusty spring trying to support her head. Ahab stood facing her, flanked by three Hounds. Behind him, a woman with red hair lied on a surgical table, metal bracers binding her legs and arms.

“You,” Ahab said. “You’re the one who destroyed my machine 40 years ago.” He raised a harpoon. “I thought you might return.”

“Ah had unfinished business,” Rogue said, pulling her gloves off. Exhausted and outnumbered, she knew she would have only one shot at this.

With a nod, the Hounds advanced on Rogue. As they grew nearer, however, she leaped up and flew straight for Ahab. He threw his harpoon, which Rogue was able to dodge. He tried to produce another, but was too late. Rogue grabbed him by the face, her thumb and her forefinger making direct contact with what little bit of his flesh was left underneath his eye.

Ahab jerked and then his eye rolled back into his head as he collapsed to the floor. Rogue spun around, anticipating an attack from the rear, but none came. The Hounds didn’t move. It was as if they were in a stasis, wanting to attack Rogue but unable to.

“Weird,” she said. Using the time she had, Rogue turned her attention to the woman on the table. It was unmistakably Rachel. Her red hair was longer, now pulled back into a bun, and she was now in a turtleneck and mom-jeans as opposed to the various leather numbers she liked to wear in the past, but it was her.

She was bound at the wrists and the legs as well at the neck. The bindings were metal clasps that appeared to be magnetically attached to the table. At the head of the table, Rogue found a consol full of markings that she didn’t recognize but did see a red button.

“God, Ah hope this isn’t some sorta ‘destruct’ button,” she said and pressed it. The bindings unlatched and after a moment, Rachel’s eyes fluttered open.

“Rogue?” she said. “You’re...alive.”

“Yeah,” she said, holding her stomach cuts. “Despite my best efforts.”

Rachel stood slowly, first noticing the Hounds who were still watching them and then Ahab on the floor. “What’s going on? How did you stop Ahab?”

“Gave him the ol’ magic touch.” Rogue held her still-bare hands. “Not sure how I stopped them, though.”

Rachel looked to the Hounds, still fixed in place and in a daze.

“Hounds are genetically engineered to obey their master, Ahab,” Rachel said. She studied them, feeling a mixture of pity and fear. “But since you absorbed him, they must be temporarily bound to you.”

“Temporarily, huh?” Rogue said. “We should get a move on, then.”

Rachel nodded and walked to one of the computer towers.

“If I remember correctly, this was the day you disappeared, right?” she said.

Rogue limped over to the screen and watched. It showed the X-Men at the power plant, although the fight appeared to be over now. She saw Gambit scouring the wreckage of the plant, using his staff to pry a slab of concrete. Ahab was restrained and being led up the ramp of the blackbird by Cyclops.

“Yeah,” Rogue said. “That’s the day.”

“Okay,” Rachel said. Below the screen were a series of buttons and levers, which Rachel began tapping. “I’ve only ever seen Ahab do this, so I hope I’m doing this right.”

She pressed one last button and a ball of white opened back up behind them.

“Do me a favor, Rogue,” she said, leading her to the ball. “When you go back, tell the young me that the feelings I’ve been harboring are ones I need to act on. There’s no use wasting time when you know who it is you want to be with. When you finally know, any time second-guessing yourself is time that could be spent with that person. Otherwise, you’ll just look back and think about all the time that was wasted. Could you do that for me?”

Rogue couldn’t speak for a moment. She felt her throat close up as the words sank deep into her own heart. Finally, she nodded. “‘Course Ah will.”

“Thank you,” she said and gave her one last hug. “See you later, Rogue.”

And with that, Rachel pushed Rogue into the light. As she entered, she fought her exhaustion and wounds from keeping her from losing consciousness. She wasn’t completely sure where this thing was going to spit her out again and she wanted to be ready.

After a moment, the white light slowly dimmed and her new destination came into view. She stood atop a mound of rubble. When she looked up, the sky was blue again and clear, save for a few wisps of clouds on the horizon. Before her stood the remains of the power plant, which was now smoking and surrounded by fire engines, police cars, and news vans with their channel numbers proudly painted on them.

But there was no sign of the X-Men.

As she stumbled down the rubble, her knees finally turned to rubber and her legs gave out on her. She reached out to catch herself, but someone else caught her first.

“There you are, petite,” Gambit said, grabbing her by the waist.

“Remy?” she said. Looking up, she saw the man as she had left him the first time: long, brown hair; stubble instead of a beard; and fierce red eyes that didn’t look so tired anymore.

“Couldn’ leave here without you,” he said. “You promised you’d be back.”

“And Ah kept it,” she said with a smile. And then she passed out.

#

“That’s quite the story,” Beast said absently. He stood next to her bed, his eyes darting back and forth from the chart in his hand to the screen next to her bed monitoring her vitals.

“I had a beard?” Gambit asked. He had pulled up a chair to the bed, having stayed with her from the time she lost consciousness to the time she woke up.

“Don’t tell me ya don’t believe me,” Rogue said.

Beast and Gambit both looked at one another and then laughed.

“Of course we believe you, Rogue,” Beast said. “Honestly, this is one of the more believable things that has happened to us in recent weeks.”

“Did my beard look cool?” Gambit asked.

“It was good,” Rogue said. She reached up and scratched at his chin with a gloved hand. “But Ah like the scruff a bit more.”

Gambit smiled at that.

“Well, since your recovery seems to be going well, I should be off,” Beast said, putting the chart down. “I have a stack of papers on Chaucer’s Fifth Fragment that needs grading.” He stopped at the door. He looked at Rogue, a hint of concern in his eyes. “Perhaps when you’re feeling better, we could discuss the nature of my continuing mutations. What you’ve told me already is...troubling to say in the least.”

Rogue nodded and Beast then With their teammate now gone, Rogue and Gambit were left alone in the infirmary. 

“So,” Gambit said, looking up and down the bed. “You think we could both fit on this bed or…”

Rogue rolled her eyes. “You need a shower and I need to let my stitches heal.”

“Scars are cool, though…”

“Remy, Ah love you,” she said.

The suddenness shut Gambit up so he could only stare at her. He didn’t say anything but Rogue didn’t care. She’d been wanting to say that ever since she got back. 

“Ah know Ah’ve told you before but Ah feel like my chest is going to explode if Ah don't say it now. So, there it is: Ah love you.”

“Je t’aime, ma chère," he finally replied. “Tellement.”

“Good,” Rogue said, finally able to breathe. “You better. Because there’s no future worth livin’ if it ain’t with you.”

“D’accord,” Gambit said. He took her hand and they sat in silence, just looking at one another and each silently imagining what this new future of theirs held.

There was a knock at the door.

“Rogue?” Rachel stood at the door, leaning in but reluctant to enter. “Sorry, Beast said you wanted to see me. I can come back if you need me to.”

“No, you’re fine,” Rogue said and then turned back to Gambit. “Would you mind giving us a moment?”

Gambit picked up her hand and kissed it. “I need a shower, anyway. Don’ go anywhere, petite. I’ll be back.”

“Promise?” she said.

“Oui,” he said and cracked a smile as he left. “Maybe I’ll see if I can’t score a chardonnay or some champagne so we can celebrate your return proper.”

Rogue bit her lip, trying to keep herself from smiling. “The more things change...”

FIN


End file.
